neighboring foothills. e “quebrados,” as the streams are 
called which flow ae these ‘‘arroyos,’”’ are mostly seasonal, 
but when we were in passage had not yet wholly dried. I know 
few of the characteristic. trees—Ochroma, Sterculiaceae, and 
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(one large sort with yellow ie a aie plant), Acanthads, 
small-flowered Menthaceae, Aeschynomene, tkania, etc. Of 
Scrophulariaceae are the widespread lowland Mecardonia pro- 
cumbens, and an Angelonia, beautiful with racemes of fan- 
tastic blue flowers. 
rom Neiva, the capital of the recently established depart- 
ment of Huila, we crossed the Cordillera Oriental to “‘ Balsillas” 
the hacienda of Don Ricardo Perdomo. This is reached ie a 
private camino, for us a three days’ journey. We were on this 
The foothills rise abruptly from the plain, aad except for the 
valleys, are open and grass-covered up to nearly 1,500 meters 
elevation. The vegetation is of tropical genera, largely the same 
asin the plain. But, as is the case in Buchnera, there are usually 
other species. recall semi-shrubby Eupatorieae, Crotalaria, 
aceae, et 
forests, that of the Subtropical* zone of tropical mountains. 
Here, the air is cooler, rainfall is ample but well-distributed 
and plants enjoy a maximum development. This is the zone 
of epiphytes—orchids, Bromeliads and ferns; of other ferns 
in great variety, the delicate tree-ferns being surely the most 
*T follow the nomenclature of life-zones presented by Dr. F. M. Chapman, in 
his ‘‘Listribution of Bird Life in Colombia", Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 36: 
84-169, 1917. 
